Hillary defends lobbyists, takes heat

By BEN SMITH

08/04/2007 03:46 PM EDT

John Edwards took the initiative with a call on his rivals to join him in rejecting contributions, and Bai focused the question on Hillary Clinton, who engaged:

"I don’t think based on my 35 years fighting for what I believe in, I don’t think anybody seriously believes I’m going to be influenced by a lobbyist," she said, to boos, before trying to head off in a different direction, thanking the bloggers for their work.

"A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans," she tried again, adopting the difficult stance of defending lobbyists. "They represent nurses, they represent social workers, yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people. The idea that somehow a contribution is going to influence you – I just ask you to look at my record."

Obama received the loudest, standingest ovation of the day for his response: "They are not spending that just because they are contributing to the public interest," he said of the health care lobby.

The whole exchange reminded me of something Markos Moulitsas said earlier in the week: that the central passion here isn't about policy, but it's about outsiders versus insiders.